tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/cabinet-reshuffle-uk-2014-11503/articlesCabinet reshuffle UK 2014 – The Conversation2014-07-16T11:27:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/292362014-07-16T11:27:32Z2014-07-16T11:27:32ZWhy exit of Gove and Willetts is unlikely to change the direction of Tory education policy<p>David Cameron’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/voter-friendly-reshuffle-from-the-pr-prime-minister-is-more-spin-than-substance-29246">cabinet reshuffle</a> has been substantial. Nowhere more so than in education, where both the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and the minister responsible for universities and science, David Willetts, have been replaced. Two newcomers are now in charge of young people’s futures – Nicky Morgan has replaced Gove at the department for education and Greg Clark takes on the university portfolio. </p>
<p>Willetts’s removal could have been anticipated but <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">Gove’s demotion (for that is what it is) to chief whip</a> took many by surprise and arguably provided the biggest headline of the whole reshuffle. The changes are significant – not least because both ministers have been in post since the coalition government came to power in 2010. By modern ministerial standards, they have had considerable time to stamp their mark on their respective areas of the education system.</p>
<p>Both men exemplified the coalition government’s commitment to radically restructure education in ways that repudiate traditional public service and welfare state values. Instead, they sought to reconfigure schools and universities as “business-like” organisations operating in <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-hard-to-market-a-university-and-make-it-accessible-to-all-28686">market-driven environments</a>. As such they have illustrated one of the great paradoxes of the current government – that a coalition administration based on centre party support from the Liberal Democrats has presided over the most radical, and right wing, restructuring of welfare services since the welfare state emerged from post-war reconstruction. </p>
<h2>Academies – Gove’s biggest legacy</h2>
<p>Gove’s time in office has seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/goves-revolution-leaves-behind-a-fast-food-education-system-29190">change on an extraordinary scale</a>, with almost no aspect of the school system left untouched, including wide-reaching curriculum and assessment reforms. </p>
<p>But there can be little doubt that the most significant feature of the Gove era has been a relentless drive to <a href="https://theconversation.com/failing-academy-chains-highlight-hole-at-heart-of-education-policy-23954">wrest schools away from local authority control</a> and to establish a school system based on “state-funded independent” schools in the form of academies and free schools. This breaking up of the school system marks a significant staging post in the move towards a privatised, for-profit model of provision supported by public money, and topped up with private contributions. </p>
<p>For some time, it has looked as though Gove was intent on achieving a single-term revolution in which reform (in the form of academisation) was pressed so far, and so fast, that it would not be considered possible for a future government to reverse it. Only time will tell if he has been successful.</p>
<h2>Willetts cemented the market</h2>
<p>For universities, Willetts has proven to be a less controversial figure than his counterpart in the schools sector. But his term in office will be similarly characterised by the drive to turn public services into commercial organisations, and to accelerate the trend to a more aggressive market-based higher education system. </p>
<p>In their highly regarded 1999 book <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Academic_Capitalism.html?id=A-7bFoyY8wcC">Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies and the Entrepreneurial University</a> Sheila Slaughter and Larry Leslie argued that England’s universities represented the most developed examples of the commercially driven higher education institution. This process has accelerated many times over during the period of the current government. </p>
<p>The most important example of this was the introduction of up to £9,000 fees for students. But the changes must also be seen as part of a much wider <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-more-concerned-with-student-numbers-than-government-grants-23102">re-casting of the relationship</a> between students and academics, with students encouraged to behave as demanding consumers in an exchange relationship.</p>
<h2>Feeding the economy</h2>
<p>The English education system, in schools, further education colleges and universities has never been so subservient to the needs of the wider economy than it is now. The global economy is becoming faster, greedier and more unequal – and it is increasingly the role of educational institutions to prepare their pupils and students to take their place in this world. </p>
<p>In order to prepare young people for the market then it has become increasingly important for education institutions to mimic the market. Students learn quickly that they must learn to sink or swim. As one of Gove’s aides once said: “If we don’t work like the Chinese, we will work for the Chinese.” </p>
<p>Such developments have never gone unchallenged, even though there is increasing evidence that a culture of fear in schools and universities is suppressing dissent and resistance. Student fees continue to attract controversy, opposition, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-more-than-a-pledge-to-reduce-student-fees-25186">political attention</a> while both the school and university sectors have experienced industrial unrest in the last 12 months. There can be little doubt that <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-the-tables-turning-in-michael-goves-war-on-teacher-unions-25417">Gove’s deteriorating relationship</a> with teachers, including on-going strike action, was a significant contributory factor (amongst several others) in his departure.</p>
<h2>Much of the same?</h2>
<p>In their new roles, Nicky Morgan and Greg Clark are more than likely to seek to consolidate in the run up to next year’s general election with little dramatic, or controversial, change. Business as usual (in more ways than one) is the most likely scenario. As the new secretary of state for education, Morgan looks like an attempt to place a more media-friendly personality into a politically high-profile role, rather than face a general election campaign with Gove as the public face of the Tories’ schools policy.</p>
<p>But the change of personnel does offer the possibility of changes in direction. Both ministers might do well to start by building bridges with those who work in, and understand, the services they provide. Conservatives need to stop presenting educators as “enemies of promise”, and instead recognise the huge energy for change and development that can be generated when you work with people, and not against them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Howard Stevenson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle has been substantial. Nowhere more so than in education, where both the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and the minister responsible for universities and…Howard Stevenson, Director of Research and Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, School of Education, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/292472014-07-16T09:47:14Z2014-07-16T09:47:14ZMore women in cabinet means better policy but greater conflict, research shows<p>The Conservatives clearly have a women problem: over the past four years the cabinet contained more ex-Etonians than it did females. Prime minister David Cameron recognised this and promised a “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10967386/William-Hague-quits-as-a-dozen-ministers-axed-in-cabinet-reshuffle.html">cull of the middle-aged white men</a>” in the latest reshuffle. </p>
<p>The dust has now settled and Cameron was true to his word. The new cabinet includes <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/14/reshuffle-at-a-glance-whos-in-whos-out-live">four new female members</a>, four women have been promoted to junior ministers, and the government features two new female whips. A few more women at the top table is certainly a welcome move. However it only goes part of the way towards addressing either the Tories’ woman problem, or the national problem of a lack of females in powerful roles.</p>
<p>Changes at the top mask a deeper problem. Women still make up just 23% of MPs. This means the UK ranks <a href="http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm">65th out of 189 countries</a> in terms of equal representation, immediately below Madagascar and just 11 places ahead of Saudi Arabia (20% women MPs). </p>
<p>The Conservatives (as well as the Liberal Democrats) have typically done much worse than Labour in appointing women candidates. The Tories did improve following the 2010 election, but the results were certainly nothing to boast about. This means there is a shallow stream of new female talent coming into the party. </p>
<p>There are many ways the party could address this issue. It previously had an “A list” for women and ethnic minority candidates. However, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-quietly-drop-david-camerons-alistfor-minority-candidates-8199985.html">this was dropped</a> in favour of voluntary lists. Yes, things such as better working hours and the introduction of a parliamentary creche have helped. But we are still some way off a truly inclusive working environment for MPs. </p>
<p>A recent report by All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women in Parliament suggested a range of measures to improve the situation. <a href="http://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2014/07/14/the-women-in-parliament-all-party-parliament-group-appg-inquiry/#_ftn2">Recommendations include</a> zero tolerance of unprofessional behaviour in parliament, a better balance of time spent in constituencies and in Westminster, establishing a women and equalities select committee, making the parliamentary calender more predictable, and improving the online gateway to parliament. </p>
<p>If these moves seem obvious that’s probably because they are: these are common practice in many workplaces. But MPs have traditionally operated in a world of their own.</p>
<p>If we were to see more women in parliament and, eventually, in cabinet, then clearly there are big questions about the impact of these raw numbers. Will simply introducing more females into the cabinet change things? </p>
<p>Having more women in cabinet is likely to lead to issues which are important to women being further up the political agenda. Yet commentators have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/14/what-is-tory-partys-problem-with-women-cameron-cabinet-reshuffle">pointed out</a> that many of the females appointed to the cabinet have values and interests which might be considered as antithetical to the interests of women. So perhaps in this instance, the impact will be lessened.</p>
<p>However, the government’s opponents might take comfort in another piece of research. A systematic review of the literature shows that Conservative women tend to have <a href="http://www.academia.edu/3667084/To_the_Left_To_the_Right_Representing_Conservative_Womens_Interests">more left-leaning economic policies</a> than their male counterparts.</p>
<p>The big question now is how this more diverse cabinet will perform, not so much in terms of ideology but as a group able to take the best decisions. We know Conservative cabinets have traditionally been dominated by old white males; what now?</p>
<p>Evidence from <a href="http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/orsc.7.6.615">studies of diverse groups</a> suggest a more diverse cabinet is likely to have more conflict, take longer to come to a decision, but come up with better solutions. Also we should expect members of the cabinet to be less satisfied with the group process. </p>
<p>Research in the corporate sector suggests more diversity at the top will result in better performance on objective measures, but performance will be seen <a href="http://www.bbcprisonstudy.org/includes/site/files/files/2010%20BJM%20Tobin's%20Q.pdf">more negatively on subjective criteria</a>. So with more women in cabinet the quality of policy is likely to be better, but the quality of media coverage is likely to be worse. Not the ideal scenario for David Cameron and his team in the run-up to an election.</p>
<p>As for the women in cabinet themselves, they won’t find it easy. Evidence from the US Senate suggests powerful men tend to speak more, while powerful women speak less. When powerful women do speak out, they are often <a href="http://asq.sagepub.com/content/56/4/622.abstract">punished with negative audience ratings</a>. </p>
<p>Life is going to get tough if any new women cabinet members get angry. Angry men tend to be seen in a positive light, and their anger is blamed on the situation. In contrast, <a href="http://gap.hks.harvard.edu/content/can-angry-woman-get-ahead-status-conferral-gender-and-expression-emotion-workplace">angry women are viewed negatively</a>, and their anger is seen as a personal failing.</p>
<p>If we are interested in making our political sphere more equal, then we must go far beyond appointing a few additional women to the cabinet. It is vital that we reform how parties select their candidates, the working practices once in parliament, as well as the gendered dynamics within cabinet itself. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andre Spicer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Conservatives clearly have a women problem: over the past four years the cabinet contained more ex-Etonians than it did females. Prime minister David Cameron recognised this and promised a “cull of…Andre Spicer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Cass Business School, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/291902014-07-15T11:02:26Z2014-07-15T11:02:26ZGove’s revolution leaves behind a fast-food education system<p>In what must surely be seen as a significant demotion, secretary of state for education, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28302487">Michael Gove, has been moved</a> to become chief whip in David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle. Given he is such a big fan of “discipline” and “rigour”, he may be perfectly suited to the role – only time will tell whether MPs will be as difficult to keep in line as teachers.</p>
<p>So after four years in charge of education, what is Gove’s legacy? It has been revolution at warp speed. Thanks to his rush, instead of creating the multi-Michelin starred, world-leading restaurant he so desired, what Gove built instead (with help from the previous Labour government) was a fast food joint.</p>
<p>A list of his reforms is dizzying. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-000-down-20-000-to-go-the-academies-drive-gathers-pace-26028">number of academies</a> has risen from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development">203 to 3,979</a> (with 56% of English secondaries now converted). There are now 174 free schools with even more autonomy. We have a brand new “core knowledge” national curriculum, plus reform of GCSEs including the ending of modular assessment. </p>
<p>Teachers have seen the scrapping of national pay frameworks and the introduction of <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-remain-divided-on-performance-related-pay-27664">performance-related pay</a>. But at the same time, academies are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19017544">no longer required</a> to employ people with Qualified Teacher Status. </p>
<p>There have been radical changes to assessment in primary schools plus a <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-look-gcse-league-tables-reconfirm-wide-disparities-between-schools-22793">new system called “progress 8”</a> to replace the five A star to Cs accountability measure in secondary schools. Ofsted is <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/ofsted-carry-out-no-notice-behaviour-inspections-response-concerns-of-parents-0">now planning to start</a> inspecting schools with no notice, in reaction to criticisms that have come after the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/focus-on-test-scores-over-curriculum-leaves-big-questions-for-ofsted-after-trojan-horse-27772">Trojan Horse</a> extremist plot in Birmingham schools. </p>
<p>Gove’s reforms have also seen the replacement of university-based teacher training with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-the-costs-of-moving-teacher-training-out-of-universities-23157">expansion of the school-based School Direct</a> programme. It’s hard to remember them all as they’ve come so thick and fast.</p>
<h2>Govian revolution</h2>
<p>Since the 2010 election, speed has perhaps been the defining factor of the Govian Revolution in English education reform. He was right on both counts when he <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/michael-gove-speaks-about-securing-our-childrens-future">said recently</a> that “the pace of change in our education system recently has been fast – and the reaction at times furious.” </p>
<p>In fact, Dominic Cummings, his now well-known former advisor, has said recently that Gove would have moved even “<a href="http://schoolsimprovement.net/gove-ally-savages-no-10-on-schools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gove-ally-savages-no-10-on-schools">faster, further, better</a>” had it had not been for “dysfunctional” civil servants and incompetence at Number 10.</p>
<p>It’s hard to imagine what else Gove might have done. But schools and teachers across the country should perhaps be grateful for the various Sir Humphreys who stopped it.</p>
<p>In political terms, what Gove achieved in office was remarkable and makes him possibly the stand-out minister of the coalition government. For many <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100220069/osborne-was-the-future-once-now-gove-drives-the-tories-on/">Conservatives he is a hero</a> – his policies constituting a long-wanted shopping list of right-wing educational reforms. </p>
<p>There is also little doubt that many of his reforms will be long lasting and will permanently change the face of education. Academy policy in England is the most obvious example, but <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26405714">the Labour party has said</a> that with the exception of the policy on non-qualified teachers, they wouldn’t repeal the Coalition’s other education reforms either. In historical terms, no education secretary achieved so much in their time of office. Long gone are the days when politicians felt education should be <a href="http://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/thatcher-and-education/">left to those who knew what they were talking about</a>.</p>
<h2>Bland food on the menu</h2>
<p>But political success must not be confused with educational success and the Gove Fast Food Restaurant will make no improvement to the nation’s long term educational diet. Schools and teachers are now obsessed by meeting the short-term numerical targets that Gove’s regime has created. So much so, that they serve an increasingly limited and impoverished pedagogical menu, designed purely for profit in key exams rather than genuine long-term nourishment of the mind. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53886/original/shprh66j-1405418277.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A pedagogical menu akin to fast food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/roboppy/9504004273/sizes/l">roboppy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The food may meet short-term cravings, but it is ultimately bland, unsatisfying and hollow. Schools know the menu has limited nutritional value, but there is little they can do about it. </p>
<p>The pressure to deliver the menu as quickly as they can is creating <a href="https://www.teachersassurance.co.uk/money-news/teachers-stress-levels-affecting-performance">alarming levels of stress</a> among employees, nearly half of whom are seriously considering <a href="http://www.comres.co.uk/poll/1068/nasuwt-teachers-satisfaction-and-wellbeing-in-the-workplace-survey.htm">looking for other forms of employment</a>.</p>
<p>The speed of the Govian Revolution, however, may ultimately lead to its unravelling. Again, the academies policy is the most glaring example of this, with increasing acceptance that the department for education cannot cope with the number of schools they are now responsible for – something formally acknowledged with the creation of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regional-schools-commissioners-to-oversee-academies">Regional Schools Commissioners</a> to oversee academies. </p>
<p>A more thought-out idea may have been to create these before academy policy was turbo charged. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ofsteds-future-at-stake-after-trojan-horse-scandal-25936">The Trojan Horse</a> allegations are unlikely to be the last education story where a sudden lack of oversight causes problems.</p>
<h2>Shift of powers</h2>
<p>What the Gove Fast Food Education Restaurant represents is the apogee of a power-grab by politicians that can be traced back to Jim Callaghan’s famous <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/speeches/1976ruskin.html">“Secret Garden” speech</a> at Ruskin College in 1976. </p>
<p>The main feature of the past 40 years of school reform is increasing centralisation. Education has been run more and more at the whim of political ideology and the career expediency of the minister holding the keys to the department for education. Despite his neoliberal, free market views, Gove’s four years in charge have actually been characterised by a dramatic speeding up of a move towards “big government”.</p>
<p>Many teachers will feel like rejoicing at today’s news, but history suggests their happiness will be short-lived. It is highly unlikely that Gove’s replacement, Nicky Morgan, or future holders of the education secretary portfolio (from whatever party) will decrease the number of cards the government now holds. This means that schools and teachers should prepare themselves for permanent revolution. </p>
<p>Ironically, when we collectively come to our senses and realise that there are better ways to feed our nation’s young minds than the fast food diet they currently receive, there may be many in the profession who are grateful that actions can be taken quickly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham Birrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In what must surely be seen as a significant demotion, secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, has been moved to become chief whip in David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle. Given he is such a big fan…Graham Birrell, Senior Lecturer in Education, Canterbury Christ Church UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.